Stan the mechanic
A lot of people ask me, just who is Stan the Mechanic? And what can you expect from watching the show? Fair questions indeed so I want to use my first blog post to set the record ‘straight’ which is hilarious considering Stan is a big ole’ homosexual!
Stan came to life in June of 2019. I always had the idea of wanting to be a horror host in the back of my head but I was struggling with the character. Since I’m a gay, naturally I wanted a provocative outfit. I wanted it to be a short romper version of Michael Myers’ coveralls since Halloween is my favorite movie and I wanted the character to somehow reflect that. However, as we all know, Michael is a man of few words so that was kind of a dead end in terms of character development. (Not to mention that Universal and Malek Akkad would have erased me from existence.) I was left with the conundrum of how to make a mechanic somehow spooky or sinister and so I just let the idea percolate in my in my head.
Cut to Scare-a-con in June 2019. My husband joined me in Framingham, Massachusetts to attend this convention as an early birthday celebration for me. There were lots of great guests at that show including Heather Langenkamp, Felissa Rose and the Mistress of the Dark herself, Cassandra Peterson! I was so so soooo excited to see Elvira. I had met her once before but it was a quick encounter at a book signing the year prior. As expected, she was an absolute delight. She told me and my husband a joke and I got her blessing on my personal Instagram handle theboogeybear. I was over the moon! She won over my husband too (who is not the biggest horror fan). We decided to have a drink after that and it was then that we started brainstorming about my horror host character.
Maybe it was Elvira, or maybe it was the booze, but inspiration struck! As is the case with many gay male couples, we have a certain fondness for the musical theatre. And where does horror and musicals intersect? Well at The Rocky Horror Picture Show, of course!! My husband highlighted the fact that Frank-N-Furter sings about a ‘Satanic Mechanic’ and the rest was, as they say, history. The backstory fell into place (which I will describe in a second) and the character was named. My husband recommended Stan since its essentially Satan with the first ‘a’ dropped out.
Stan is the one and only Satanic Mechanic commissioned by Satan to wreak havoc on mankind by use of their automobiles. He came into existence at the very same time the wheel was invented. He causes traffic jams, tire blow outs and magically siphons away all your gas when you are on a dark and deserted road. He helps provide the situations and set ups that allow people to make poor choices. I consider him to be more naughty than evil though, but that’s just me.
In recent years he has come to open and run a mechanic shop specifically for the supernatural community in Brooklyn, New York. He still pesters mankind per the Dark Lord’s command but he spends lots of time at the shop with his assistants Brad and Janet and a revolving cast of satanic playthings sent to work at Stan’s shop as part of Satan’s eternal punishment for them. We have met Brad and Janet already but we are going to open up the universe so many more demons, goblins and monsters can stop in and catch a horror flick with their good buddy Stan.
That’s the world in which Stan lives. It’s a world I wanted to create that celebrates all body types, sexual preferences and gender expressions. There are not many plus size led shows on tv and Stan fills that role. He is also mixed race (Puerto Rican and Italian in human form) and hella gay. Stan’s workshop is an inclusive place where everyone will be made to feel welcome and celebrated. It’s a sex positive place. We celebrate boobs, balls and blood, as Satan intended! There’s lots of sexual puns and innuendo but Stan takes it that one step further at times so sometimes the humor goes a little blue and that’s ok! Its about having fun! Stan and the gang will break in during the movies with skits, trivia and salty one liners. It’s a celebration of horror and comedy in the great tradition of horror hosting that started with Vampira and Zacherley. Stan is a fresh, more adult take on a long existing and beloved tv format; at least that is my intention for him.
So far the response has been great! New episodes are getting ready to roll out this October and we are beginning to develop the 2022 episodes. Since there are long stretches of time between episodes, and there has been a desire for more content, I will catch up with you here on my blog for horror talk and musings and on Youtube for skits and silliness! TikTok is a possibility too but I gotta figure it out first!
I hope you will take the ride with me. The horror community is filled with some of the most interesting, intelligent and funny people. I want to get to know all of you so we can continue to celebrate the genre we love as a family.